Pocket Aces
by Writer Awakened
Summary: Back again. Cid and a few of the guys from their merry band of rogues sit down to play a "friendly" game of Midgar Hold 'Em poker. Rated because Cid has a mouth even a mother couldn't love.


Pocket Aces

-

Each of the four players sat around the beaten up old table. Four of 'em, each one playing to win. Vinnie V. sat across from the host, Cid, who sat with a half-smoked lit-n'-smoking cigar from some place that Yuffie, who sat to his left, couldn't even pronounce. The dealer, Cloud, sat across from Yuffie, with the fourth player, Shera, sitting beside him. Cid had just finished _eating a sandwich_ and now, as he always did after **eating a sandwich**, lit up a smoke and had thrown his head back like he didn't care a damn bit about anything else.

"So deal them out, spiky-haired badass!" Cid said, pounding the floor with his right foot. He chewed on his cigar. _Munch, munch._ "I could've shat in the time you're takin' to deal 'em out! And that don't take a goddamm hour! Let's play! I've been looking forward to this!"

"Right, right. Calm down," Cloud said, shuffling. "All right? We're playing Midgar Hold Em'?"

"Eh, what the hell." Cid. _Munch, munch_. "All the kids are playin' it nowadays, so why the hell not? Heard that's the only thing playing on the tee-vees in Midgar. Damn I feel old—hey Shera! You're not workin' on the damn plane today?"

She looked up, rolled her eyes. _Munch, munch._ He frustrated her. She thought it was time to be smart again. "You're not marrying me today?"

Cid pursed his lips for a second, thought for a second, then "Goddam. Got me. Deal 'em, Cloud!"

"I am," Cloud said, and he dealt two cards to each of 'em. That done, he put his right elbow on the table and leaned on it, surveying the field.

"Every since we got back from killing that crazy-ass—" (and here Cid burst into a tirade of expletives too vile to repeat) "—you haven't been actin' like yourself."

"Really?" Cloud said, looking at Cid. "You think so? How do I usually act?"

"You usually mope around and not talk to anybody, that sorta thing."

Cloud shrugged. "I dunno. Guess this is how I really am."

"But you ain't playing?"

"Eh, I prefer to deal. If I wanted to play a game I'd go down to the Saucer so I wouldn't have to gamble my money away like a crazy man."

"Who the hell're you callin' crazy?" _Munch, munch._

"Can we just get playing?" Shera said, rolling her eyes. "The rest of the week is busy for me. All I have is today, otherwise I have things to do."

"Yeah, if we're going to play," Yuffie said, looking at her cards, "then let's play!"

The group nodded and looked at their cards. Cid couldn't speak for the others, but he had to restrain himself from gasping and dropping his cigar (_munch, munch_) right in his lap when he saw two fat aces hiding under the backs of his two down cards. He looked furtively around to the other players.

"Play goes to the left," Cloud said, motioning to Shera.

Check.

Cid. He looked at his aces and wondered whether to do anything. Yes. Yes yes. Everybody had starte off with ten ten-gil chips, ten fifties, and ten hundreds. Everybody had anted a ten. Cloud had mumbled something about blind, but Cid wouldn't have any of it, said he'd keep his goddam sight, thankyouverymuch. He was going to bet. Aces? Gotta bet, shit. Bet big with that shit. "Twenty," Cid said as he threw three ten-gil chips into the pot.

Cloud rapped his fingers against his forehead. "That's thirty."

"I put in one extra," Cid said, and he crunched down on his cigar. _Munch munch_. "So what? These hands ain't as damn nimble as they used to be, why'd you think I let Shera do all the precision work with her tiny-ass hands?"

"Right," Cloud said. "Next?"

Yuffie thought for a bit, looked around at the other players, and folded.

Vincent. Fold.

Shera. Call.

And Cid was thinking she wanted to take him down one-on-one, and hell no, as if that would ever happen! Shera threw three chips into the pot.

"Right," Cloud said. "Now, two players to the 'free flip'." Cloud flopped the Flip. Ace, eight, three.

Godammm-mm! That ace was the ass-kicker extraordinare! His jaw almost gaped, spilling his cigar again, but he sucked it back up to the perch between his lips and munched again. _Munch munch_. Cid tried to keep a straight face when he threw five ten-gil chips into the center, and looked to Shera smugly.

"You flopped trip flip flops on the Flip?" Shera said, smirking.

"I'm not sayin' anythin'! Play the damn hand, else go and make us tea."

"Fine," she said, and she called.

Cloud nodded. "The Roll," he said, and he flipped a deuce. Nothing doing. Cid sat still, peeking at his two cards to make sure they were still there. Damn. _Dammm-mm_. They hadn't gone _anywhere_. Cid looked at Shera, looked into her eyes. She checked. Always so straight faced, wearing her ornamental glasses-things shielding her eyes from Sir Highwind's glance. Ace, eight, three, deuce. She couldn't have anything. Nothing. Cid almost chortled. Can't hit the joker in this little game, he thought, a little bit of a tingle working through his muscles. Not like the card-throwing razor floating joker creepy monster things around near Corel that chucked clubs that made ol' Cid's feet rumble, or the diamonds that made the sparkle and the pretty heal, no—no jokers here.

"Fifty," Cid said, steel-faced. Shera quickly called, causing Cid to wonder just what the hell could she be calling with? Up the ladder? No suits, it was all rainbow. Damn, damn! So many possibilities, but likelier than all, she had jack. Jack, or _a_ Jack, maybe. Cid needed to **_eat another sandwich_**...but he didn't.

"And now the Boat…" Cloud revealed the last card, a four, and here Cid started shaking. There were three cards in a row, and if little Shera had five-six it was all over. Damn over. He had to take that chance. She checked. Weak-ass.

"Shera. You wanna frockin' roll? Let's do it! Three hundred!" Cid took three hundred-gil chips and threw them in. Yuffie gasped, in awe about the sudden surge of money. Cid turned to Shera and stared—just stared. He looked over and stared as if staring into her soul. It was a gaze she would have crumbled under, she would have seen and jetted back to work on Tank #8 so he wouldn't screw himself over up in space like he always did. That was, until Cid had grabbed her by the back of her grease-stained oily coat and told her when he said to get the guests their goddamm tea, what he really meant was, have some balls and tell him to do it his own damn self, because she was never gonna get anywhere just letting everybody walk all over her. As if, Cid had chortled, he would ever make the tea himself. It was still tea. Still tea. Rocket Town hadn't changed much after all, and neither did she, even if she had learned herself a damn good poker face. After about a half-minute, Shera responded.

"Take it. I fold," she said at last, and she slid her cards to the side where Cloud gathered them. Cid sat up in his chair with pride.

"Yeah! That's right," he said, gathering his chips. "Oh ho! Come to papa. Hey," he added, brushing a lone strand of hair out of his face, "didn't I tell you all that I was going to clean up today?"

"That reminds me, I have to clean up the lab tomorrow."

"Save it for tomorrow then, Shera," Cid replied, and Cloud dealt the cards again. The next twenty or so hands were uneventful. As it turned out, Yuffie won a few hands, lost a few hands, got around to saying they should bet Materia instead of gil chips since gil was so boring, and was subsequently given a terse glance from Cloud, which shut her up but good. At the end of about thirty hands, however, it was Vinnie. V, still wrapped up like a coffin-man, who had come out as the leader, with just about fifteen of each chip. Cid, who had long since finished chewing his cigar to bits, was in third just ahead of Yuffie, and had been rendered quiet and had been relegated to sneering. Cloud dealt another set of hands out, and when Cid peeked at his two down cards, his eyelids jolted up.

Pocket aces. Again. Hot damn. He dropped fifty chips after Shera checked. Yuffie swore, bit her tongue, and folded. Cid turned to Vincent, who slowly checked both of his down cards, one after the other, his face expressionless. After a moment, Vinny V. reached for his chips and called, followed by Shera, who also called. Cid chuckled to himself. He had them. Beat. Dead. Gone.

Cloud then flopped the Flip. Ace, Jack, Ten. Damn. Damn. Cid put his elbow against the table. Gotta act natural, he was thinking the whole damn time. Gotta act natural. Three aces. Damn. Damn!

"Three hundred," Cid said, smirking. It was almost all of his money; he was down to just under five hundred. Still, it was worth it. Cid turned his eyes to Vincent, who stared at his lap, emotionless. Finally, he took three hundred-gil chips and threw them in. Shera wiggled her nose, uncomfortable.

"I don't like doing this, but I can't play," she said, folding.

"Damn right you can't play!" Cid said, chortling. "Only thing you're good for is makin' tea! How about that?"

Shera shrugged. "You don't really mean it."

He didn't really mean it. He couldn't think of anything witty to say, so he shut up like a clam making pearls. Cloud flopped over the Roll. A five. Nothing. His aces had to be good. But Cid figured, eh, can't make him think I have a hand, so I'll play it slow, play it cool.

"Check," Cid said, slamming his fist against the table so hard his stack of tens fell over. "Oop! Shit." He collected his chips. Vinny V. checked. Cloud turned over the Boat.

An ace.

An ace.

An _ace_!

Cid's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets like over-ripe cherry tomatoes.

An _**ace**_!

Hot damn.

Cid thought for a moment. How to move. Big, small, soft, hard? Eventually, he settled on making the big move. "I put all my chips in. How about that for a move, Vinny?"

Cid looked over at Vincent, who put a hand on his chin and stroked. "Hm. Interesting. I wonder what you have."

Cid paused, then, "That it? That's all you have to say?"

"Yes."

Snort. "Fine then," Cid said, sitting back. "What do ya do, then?"

"I call," Vinny said, and Yuffie and Shera gasped.

"Glad I got out of the hand," Shera said in an off-hand manner.

"So then," Cloud said, and rapped his fingers against the table. "Reveal your hands."

Cid smirked and flipped over his pocket aces. "Four aces! Beat that!"

The room briefly went silent. Yuffie gasped and clasped her hands over her mouth. Shera stared at Cid's cards in wonderment. Vincent merely sat, quietly, and showed his king and queen. It made a straight, but that wasn't enough.

"Yeah!" Cid yelled, pumping his fist like a fist-pumping madman. A straight wasn't good enough, he got four aces, baby! "How do you like that, Vinny boy? Now that's a win for ya!"

Vincent said nothing, but his arms moved and he shuffled around in his robes. A few seconds later, as Cid stood up, thrusting his hands into the air, triumphant, there was a massive _shot_!

Without warning, Cid was blown back, uttered a hasty "whoa!" and landed a good five feet away against the floor. The minute he hit the ground he winced in what must have been excruciating pain (best estimates put it at about 2,000 HP worth of damage).

"Aggg! What the hell was that?" Cid yelled, clutching his groin, writhing in pain. "What th'ell was that for, Vinny? Was that some Wild Bill hickory hip-hop shit right there? I mean, damn! That hurt, boy!"

Vincent stood up and shrugged. "Death Penalty beats four aces."

Cloud, who had been watching quietly the whole time, chuckled and shrugged. "Can't argue with that logic," he said, and Shera shrugged sheepishly, mentioning something about cleaning up the lab.

Cid groaned. Some people, it seemed, got all the luck. He would have settled for a sandwich and a smoke.


End file.
